A comparative research paper "The Liaison Office as a Tool for Successful NGO-Government Cooperation: An Overview of the Central and Eastern European and Baltic Countries' Experiences" prepared by Maria Gerasimova, a Bulgarian lawyer was published in June's issue of ICNL's International Journal for Not-for Profit Law.
The paper analyzes the experiences with liaison offices in ten Central and Eastern European and Baltic countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. The article examines key features of these offices, including the rationale for their creation, the means of establishment, NGO's input in the process, the structure and organization of the offices, the evolution over time of interactions between government and NGOs, and the main challenges and opportunities that the offices confront in promoting NGO-government cooperation.
Ms. Gerasimova produced the paper during her internship in ICNL Washington DC. ICNL and ECNL team members worked closely with Ms. Gerasimova and provided assistance during the research, writing and review of the paper. This paper is part of a comprehensive research project on NGO-government partnerships which tackles other subjects in the field, such as implementation of policy documents for cooperation (compacts) and social service delivery.